Gravity operated door hinge



July 1, 1958 M. HlCKEY 2,840,848

GRAVITY OPERATED DOOR HINGE Filed April 25, 1955 INVENTOR. JAMES M. HICKE Y BY} AM/"v w M ATTORNEYS United States Patent GRAVITY OPERATED DOOR HINGE James M. Hickey, Mentor, Ohio Application April 25, 1955, Serial No. 503,580

4 Claims. (Cl. 16154) This invention relates to hinges and particularly hinges of the type which are operated by gravitational force to cause a door to remain normally in a predetermined position. In many places, as for example, public lavatories, it is desirable to have doors which will remain in a normally closed position. To accomplish this hinges of this general type have in the past been produced which cause the door to rise as it is opened and permit the gravitational pull to cause the door to close as it seeks its lower position.

Prior devices have been cumbersome space-consuming mechanisms which required special housings, for appearance sake as well as for functional reasons. These housings are generally externally afiixed to the door. The hinge of the present invention is the recessed type for internal application to a door. The device has simplicity of construction, is inexpensive to produce and is durable and dependable in operation. It is then, one of the objects of this invention to provide a generally improved door-closing mechanism which is gravitationally operated and which is adapted to be recessed or contained within a door.

Hinges which are externally affixed to the door cause considerable difliculty in mounting. Extreme care must be exercised to affix the door to upper and lower hinges so that they will be in substantially perfect vertical alignment. This is necessary to permit the door to raise'and lower in relative axial movement-along the turning axes of the two hinges.

An additional object of this invention then is to provide a hinge device, which may be mounted on any door with minimum skill. The device, for example, may be mounted in the interior of a metal door in original assembly and may be affixed thereto simply by spot-welding the hinge housing to the door.

Another object of this invention is to provide an internal hinge housing which may be affixed to the door without registration with the edges of that door. By this means the degree of accuracy needed in door production is greatly reduced and hence thecost of the door is correspondingly reduced.

Devices of this general nature which have been previously developed frequently relied on complicated mechanisms to insure positive coaction of a cam and cam follower. They have, for example, embodied spring means to assure touching relationship between the cam and the cam follower. the elimination of superfluous parts and the provision of improved means to obtain positive contact of the cam and cam follower at all times while at the same time providing dependability of operation.

Many of the gravity hinge devices produced in the past have limited life spans due to inherent defects. For this reason it is frequently necessary to replace existing gravitational hinges. This invention has as another object features of construction which permit its ready application to doors of all types for ease of installation in both This invention has as another objective.

original manufacture and replacement of worn and defective hinges in existing installations.

For further objects and advantages and for a. better understanding of the invention, attention is now directed to the following description and accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof representative of the best mode of practicing the invention. The novel features of the invention will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the device showing the principal features with fragmentary portions of the door being shown to illustrate the relationship of the improved hinge to the door and to the upper hinge and its coacting pin;

Fig. 2 is a top sectional view of the hinge taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the cam, a portion of the shaft, and the cam follower showing its coaction with the cam.

As best seen in Fig. l the hinge comprises a bracket 1 for mounting to a door post 2 by any suitable means such as bolts or cap screws threaded into the post. Attached to the bracket is a vertical rod or shaft 3. In the embodiment shown the shaft 3 is threadedly engaged at its lower end with horizontal arm 4 of the bracket 1. A lock nut 5 on the rod is tightened against the underside of the arm 4 to lock the shaft in fixed or rigid nonrotative relationship with the arm.

At a point intermediate its ends the vertical rod 3 receives a cam member 6 which cooperates with a cam follower 21. The cam follower 21 will subsequently be described in more detail. The cam 6 and the-cam follower 21 coact to raise the door when the latter is swung away from a selected predetermined position. The cam 6 is conveniently formed of cylindrical steel bar stock out on the bias or obliquely at an angle of, say, about 20 to about 45. Preferably as in the shown example, the angle is 30 to provide cam surface 32. The bar stock is drilled axially at 10 to receive the rod 3. The cam 6 is also counterbored coaxially from its cam face end to provide an annular clearance 8. Thus, the annular cam surface 32 is spaced from the rod 3. A pin 7 is driven through aligned holes in the rod 3 in a press fit or otherwise suitably permanently connected as by peening. The heavy base section of the cam member below the counterbore serves to locate the cam on the rod and to coact with the pin 7 to hold the cam and the rod in fixed relationship.

A frame or housing 11 is disposed about the shaft 3. In the preferred embodiment shown in the drawing, the housing has a flat plate 12 which is rectangular in shape. Top and bottom edges of the plate are bent inwardly at angles to provide vertically spaced parallel flanges 13 and 14. One side edge is also bent inwardly at 90 to the flat plate to provide a vertical side flange 15. Holes 16 and 17 are bored through flanges 13, 14 in aligned relationship to receive the vertical shaft 3. Oilite or other antifriction bushings 18 are secured in the coaxial holes 16 and 17. The bushings 18 provide circumferential guiding for the housing 11 to permit free vertica sliding of the shaft 3. r

A rotating cam follower 21, which is mounted on a ball bearing assembly of well known construction is affixed to the side edge flange 15 of the housing 11. The cam follower 21 is located in a position which will permitcoaction with the cam 6 when the housing is rotated about the axis of the shaft.

Preferably the housing 11 is fixed to a lower corner of a door 22 by spot welding or other suitable means. The weight of door 22 causes the cam follower 21 to ride along the cam 6. Thus, the door is wholly supported by coaction of the cam and the cam follower.

Upper corner 23 of the door 22 coacts with a vertical pin 24. The vertical pin is aflixed to horizontal arm 25 of a bracket 26 which in turn is affixed to the door post 2. This upper hinge construction is of well known construction and serves to retain the door on its turning axis in proper alignment with the gravitational hinge.

When the door is in a closed position surface 27 of the cam follower 21 coacts in substantially point contact with inner edge 28 of the oblique cam surface 32 at its lower portion 34. As the door is opened or swung away from the predetermined rest position the cam follower rides up the cam and the contact of the follower surface 27 changes -to line contact with the cam surface 32 and then to point contact with the outer edge 31 of the cam surface 32 at its upper portion 33. Due to this point contact action the upper and lower portions 33 and 34 of the cam surface 32 tend to experience more wear than the intermediate or side portions of the cam face during initial operation of the device. Flat line contact between the cam and cam follower will through natural causes eventually develop around the entire extent of the cam surface 32.

When the door is in closed position outer edge 35 of the cam follower surface 27 would, in the absence of the relief 8, contact the cam surface 32. To avoid binding or uneven distribution of forces exerted on the outer race of the bearing assembly of cam follower 21, it is desirable to provide contact with the cam along substantially the middle of the cam. follower surface 27. The annular clearance or relief 8 is provided to accomplish this center loading of the follower. Thus the cam is formed substantially as a cylindrical shell that surrounds the rod 3 in spaced coaxial relation. It is radially thin so as to provide a cam surface which is radially relatively narrow to contact the cylindrical peripheral surface of the follower along only a central band of the latter. The central band is spaced from both side edges of the follower surface.

A rivet 36 is received through the center race 38 of the cam follower assembly 21 to attach it to the side flange of the housing 11. A spacer 40 is carried by the rivet between the cam follower center race 38 and the side edge flange 15 to hold the cam follower assembly 21 in spaced relationship with the flange for free rotation. A washer 41 is disposed about the end of the rivet which projects through the mounting hole provided in the flange 15 and the rivet is then peened over as may best be seen in Fig.2. 1

The invention thus provides a hinge of ultimate simplicity which may be applied internally to a door, with aminimum of skill to provide an inexpensive hinge which at the same time is of highly reliable and durable construction.

In accordance with the patent statutes the principles of the present invention may be utilized in various ways, numerous modifications and alterations being contemplated, substitution of parts and changes in construction being resorted to as desired, it being understood that the embodiment shown in the drawing and described above is given merely "for purposes of explanation and illustration without intending to limit the scope of the claims to the specific details disclosed.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A gravity hinge comprising a rod member, a frame member mounted on the rod member for relative turning movement and also for sliding movement axially of the rod member, said frame member comprising a substantially flat metal plate adapted to be rigidly secured in the lower corner of the hinge edge of a door and having spaced angularly disposed integral flange portions apertured to receive spaced portions of the rod member, a cylindrical cam having a relatively narrow annular cam .4. surface disposed about the rod member coaxially, the cam surface being separated from the rod member by an annular clearance space greater than the radial width of the cam surface, a cam follower roller rigidly secured to one lateral edge of said frame member and having a cylindrical peripheral surface, means rigidly securing the cam to the rod member intermediate the flange apertures, means securing the follower roller to the frame member with the rotational axis of the roller normal to the axis of the rod member and so that the narrow cam surface is substantially centered on the peripheral surface of the follower, and means for rigidly securing the rod member to a supporting post or the like.

2. A gravity hinge comprising a rod member, a frame member, said frame member comprising a substantially flat metal plate adapted to be rigidly secured in the lower corner of the hinge edge of a door and having spaced angularly disposed integral flange portions apertured to receive spaced portions of the rod member, a cam having an annular cam surface disposed about the rod member coaxially, a cam follower roller having a circular peripheral surface and rigidly secured to one lateral edge of said frame member, means rigidly securing the cam to the rod member intermediate the flange apertures, means securing the follower roller to the frame member with the rotational axis of the roller generally normal to the axis of the rod member, and means for rigidly securing the rod member to a supporting post, or the like, arranged beneath said lower corner of the door, whereby opening of the door will cause said cam follower to ride upwardly on the cam surface and thereby elevate the door.

3. A gravity hinge comprising a unitary rod member, a unitary frame member, the frame member including first and second spaced, apertured rod embracing bearings, the bearings and connected frame being mounted on the rod member for relative turning movement and also for sliding movement axially of the rod member, said frame member being adapted to be rigidly secured in the lower corner of the hinge edge of a door, an annular cam having a flat cam surface disposed about the rod member coaxially and at an agle thereto, a cam follower roller having a circular peripheral surface and rigidly secured to one lateral edge of said frame member and initially engaging the inner edge of the lower portion of said cam surface, means rigidly securing the cam to the rod member intermediate the bearings, means securing the follower roller to the frame member with the rotational axis of the roller generally normal to the axis of the rod member, and means for rigidly securing the rod member to a supporting post, or the like, arranged beneath said lower corner of the door, whereby opening of the door will cause said cam follower to ride upwardly on the cam surface and assume a line contact therewith until it engages the outer edge of the upper portion of said cam surface with a point contact and thereby elevate the door.

4. A gravity hinge comprising a rod member, a frame member, the frame member including first and second spaced, apertured rod embracing bearings, the bearings and connected frame being mounted on the rod member for relative turning movement and also for sliding movement axially of the rod, said frame member being adapted to be rigidly secured in the lower corner of the hinge edge of a door, a cam having an axial hole extending through its length for circumferential mating disposition about said rod member, a substantially round relief coaxial with the hole, the relief being at one end of said cam, a flat annular cam surface oblique to the axis of said hole and said relief at the relieved end of said cam, a cam follower roller having a circular peripheral surface and rigidly secured to one lateral edge of said frame member, means rigidly securing the cam to the rod member intermediate the bearings, means securing the follower roller to the frame member with the rotational axis of the roller generally normal to the axis of the rod member, and means for rigidly securing the rod member'to a supporting post,

or the like, arranged beneath said lower corner of the door, whereby opening of the door will cause said cam follower to ride upwardly on the cam surface and thereby elevate the door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,608,299 Carpenter et a1 Nov. 23, 1926 6 Jones et al. Aug. 1, 1933 Anderson et a1 July 29, 1952 Anderson et al. July 29, 1952 Slopa et a1 ept. 20, 1955 Jones et al May 29, 1956 

